Israel's operation in Rafah has delayed cease-fire amid ongoing mediation efforts: Qatar

ISTANBUL

Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Tuesday said the Israeli military operation against Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, has delayed the cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group.

Speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum, Sheikh Mohammed stressed, however, that mediation efforts continue despite being disrupted.

He noted that there is "a fundamental difference between the two" parties, Israel and Hamas, regarding the cease-fire.

“There is one party (Hamas) who wants to end the war and then talk about the hostages. There is another party (Israel) who wants the hostages and wants to continue the war," he also said.

The top Qatari diplomat added: "As long as there is no commonality between those two things, it won’t get us to a result."

The Israeli army last week started its invasion of the eastern area of Rafah, storming and occupying the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, closing Gaza's only gateway to the outside world.

Hamas also last week said it accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but Israel said the deal did not meet its core demands.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip following Palestinian resistance group Hamas' cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people.

Nearly 35,180 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have since been killed, and over 79,000 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Seven months into the conflict, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Tel Aviv is committing genocide in Gaza, ordering it to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

* Writing by Ahmed Asmar